Early curiosity
The early adopter is someone that has the awareness to identify something new - technology, fashion etc. - and go all in on it. When looking at technology, these people tend to be about 13.5% of the ‘market’.
The next group are the ‘early majority', followed by the ‘late majority’ and then the laggards.
The early adopters are often seen as the people with their finger on the pulse. They go all in, until such time as; a) everyone else follows suit or; b) the technology doesn’t deliver the expected value and they seek the next iteration of it.
At this point, the late majority and laggards will feel justified in not adopting the technology as it would have wasted their time (and very probably their money!).
Yet, I think there is another way and that is to have ‘Early curiosity’.
Early curiosity is often a phase that many organisations miss. They shoot for early adoption often as a result of a cheaper licensing deal or a bewitching (yet often unproveable) story of early value delivery.
Engaging in early curiosity means that you don't fully invest time and money in something new, but that you investigate - over a short time period - the value that it could potentially add to you or your work.
This approach offers the awareness of early adopters without the risk of premature commitment. You remain informed about emerging tools whilst protecting resources. When the technology proves valuable, you're positioned to adopt it intelligently. When it doesn't, you've lost nothing but a modest time investment in learning what not to pursue.
Early curiosity creates sustainable experimentation rather than expensive implementation.
